Daughter Emily looks out across the
plains of northern England where she and a team from The University of
Western Ontario spent the summer of 2014 excavating a Roman-era archeological site
called Vindolanda

A little known historical fact about
our town is that Corunna almost became the capital of Canada!
In 1823, Lord Hicks surveyed the town site of Corunna, naming it after
the Battle
of Corunna in Spain.
He chose to name the site after the town La Coruña in Spain because he
had spent considerable time there during the Napoleonic
Wars. The town's (almost) claim to fame owes itself to another of
the British commanders in that battle, William Carr Beresford, who was
also present at the Battle of Corunna.

Beresford was later sent on a
mission to find a suitable capital for a future union between the
colonies of Upper
Canada (Ontario) and Lower
Canada (Quebec). Corunna was seriously considered, but ultimately
not chosen, as it was seen as being too close (less than two miles
across the St. Clair River) to the American border for comfort. It
is important to remember that, back in the 1820s and 1830s, the prospect
of a raid from the nearby United States was still considered a very
serious threat to the British colonies.

Today, a small stone monument stands
along Baird Street, near the CSX north-south train track (less than a
block from our home) that divides the town. The monument marks the spot
where Beresford's survey crews planned to build St. George's Square, the
area that was to eventually house Canada's new Parliament
Buildings. However, and as we all know, that honour ultimately
went to the Canadian city of Ottawa.